The team may be near the foot of the Premiership, but Bristol is flying high in a national league table comparing the strength of the housing market around rugby stadiums.

The unorthodox survey analysed how house prices had risen over the past five years - and found the cost of buying a home near Ashton Gate had shot up by 50 per cent, with buyers now forking out a whopping £260,000 on average.

This placed Bristol behind the likes of Reading-based London Irish; fans wanting to live near the Madejski Stadium have faced a 55 per cent hike in property prices over five years, with the average home now costing £303,000.

Bristol was ranked fifth in the rugby table of house price rises near rugby grounds.

Based on Land Registry values and capital growth throughout the past five years, the Championship’s Ealing Trailfinders top the housing league with a 60 per cent rise in values. Average homes in Ealing cost £477,685.

The English national house price growth for the same period was 33 per cent. Three of the top five areas, including Ealing, Reading and Bedford, have teams in the Championship rather than the Premiership.

Conducted by EasyProperty, an online estate agent, the study found half of all English rugby towns boast above average growth.

Rob Ellice, easyProperty chief executive, said: “At some point during pre or post-match rugby banter, someone will bring up the inevitable topic of house prices, so, naturally, we thought it would be best to assist lively debate about capital appreciation with our research.

“London always tops the capital values chart but if you’re looking at how fast house prices have grown in areas around each English rugby stadium then Reading, Bedford and Bristol are in the top five.

“In about half of the areas where you can find a rugby stadium in England, there has been above-average house price growth.”

Stadium

Home Team

Area

Av Price Nov 16

5y growth

Trailfinder Sports Club

Ealing Trailfinders

Ealing

£477,685

60%

Madejski Stadium

London Irish

Reading

£303,021

55%

Allianz Park

Saracens

Hendon (Barnet)

£534,221

54%

Goldington Road

Bedford Blues

Bedford

£273,826

50%

Ashton Gate

Bristol Rugby

Bristol

£260,026

50%

Richmond Athletics Ground

London Scottish

Richmond (Richmond upon Thames)

£650,272

47%

Richmond Athletics Ground

Richmond

Richmond (Richmond upon Thames)

£650,272

47%

Twickenham Stadium/ Twickenham Stoop

English national/ Harlequins

Twickenham (Richmond upon Thames)

£650,272

47%

Franklin's Gardens

Northampton Saints

Northampton

£192,243

40%

Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby

Bath and North Somerset

£317,733

36%

Ricoh Arena

Wasps

Coventry

£164,521

33%

Kingsholm Stadium

Gloucester RFC

Gloucester

£184,328

33%

Sandy Park

Exeter Chiefs

Exeter

£249,904

30%

Edgeley Park

Sale Sharks

Edgeley, Stockport

£201,145

28%

Welford Road

Leicester

Leicester

£152,908

27%

Meadow Lane

Nottingham Rugby

Nottingham

£125,520

27%

Sixways Stadium

Worcester Warriors

Worcester

£199,118

24%

Headingley Stadium

Yorkshire Carnegie

Leeds

£168,240

22%

Kingston Park

Newcastle Falcons

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

£158,605

17%

Mennaye Field

Cornish Pirates

Penzance

£215,993

13%

Castle Park Rugby Stadium

Doncaster Knights

Doncaster

£121,107

11%

Clifton Lane

Rotherham Titans

Rotherham

£128,278

10%

The Darlington Arena

Darlington Mowden Park

Darlington

£130,535

8%

JRFC

Jersey Reds

Jersey

0

0

† Source: Land Registry’s local authority and unitary authority district values

On average throughout England, house prices rose 33% between November 2011 and November 2016. Across the UK during the same period, values rose by 30%.

In comparison to neighbouring nations, house prices rose by 12.52% in Wales, 11.56% in Scotland and 10.91% in Northern Ireland.